Food dye in water results in the bag/umbrella/chandelier version of the Rayleigh Taylor instability

By Luke McMullan for Fall 2015 Get Wet.
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Food dye in water results in the bag/umbrella/chandelier version of the Rayleigh Taylor instability

Ink dropped in water, viewed from above and from the side.

Black ink falling through water shows the Rayleigh Taylor ‘umbrella’ instability.

Half and half (milk and cream) poured into water creates a turbulent negatively buoyant plume.

A fire whirl mixes flames from methanol doped with lithium to make red flames, and boric acid to make green flame.

Falling honey exhibits the rope-coiling instability

A very large water droplet creates a crown splash on impact with a water pool.

While soap added to dyed milk creates a Marangoni (surface tension) driven flow, a droplet of food coloring adds a Worthington jet upon impact with the surface.

A Worthington jet, created by a droplet impacting a water surface, acts as a cylindrical lens, inverting the background image.

Oobleck, a non-Newtonian suspension of cornstarch in water, dances on a loudspeaker, color-reversed.